In 2016, shortly after its acquisition of Ustream, IBM was placed in the Niche Players quadrant. Fast forward two years, and we see IBM now placed in the Challengers quadrant and close to crossing over into the Leaders quadrant. We’re excited by our new positioning in the Magic Quadrant and recognition by Gartner for both ability to execute and completeness of vision.

The live stream video begins, and the carefully prepared speaker begins addressing an audience of thousands of viewers. The presentation is going smoothly until, just a few minutes into the opening keynote, the video freezes. Some viewers sound the alert in the chat window, others try checking their own connection. But many viewers have left: On average, one in five viewers will immediately stop watching a stream with poor video quality and never return.

Most of the time, common live streaming video mistakes—poor sound quality and a broken (or unattended) chat function, among others—are easily avoided with careful advance work. Organizations new to streaming video should heed this advice from Jeff Irwin, customer success manager for IBM Watson Media. In the process of helping customers implement and manage streaming video, Irwin has identified common mistakes that stand in the way of streaming events and their viewers. So follow these 13 tips to avoid any unlucky mishaps on your next broadcast.

Note that this list assumes that you are using a platform that is scalable, able to reach large audiences without crashing, and is mobile friendly, having adaptive bitrate delivery. If not, these would be priorities as well.

Written by Stacy Nawrocki in Video Trends & Studies on 30 October 2018

We asked a few questions recently to Nick Barber, senior analyst with Forrester Research on video and what’s changing with the advancements of artificial intelligence (AI). Here’s what Nick had to say based on his research around enterprise video and related communications technology.

There’s a gold mine of data in live video streams — data that can guide communications programs and help organizations refine future presentations. Important engagement clues are buried deep in the data: How long are viewers actually tuning in to company video? Are they responding to calls to action? How often are they engaging?

During any live stream, metrics are key for assessing performance, spotting trends and honing everything from a video’s message to its quality. Here are four impactful (and often overlooked) data points to collect from your live video analytics to get a complete picture of the event’s success.

Events have exploded beyond the stage with live streaming. From company announcements, to press conferences and award ceremonies, most events today have two audiences: the one in the room, and the one behind their screens.

For organizers, the expanded reach is a dream come true, as are the insights from live stream analytics. But live streaming also requires a new attention to detail: even the Super Bowl and Apple keynotes have fallen victim to seemingly minor mistakes, amplified by the real-time nature of streaming.

To make sure live streams go off without a hitch, organizers should follow this high quality live streaming checklist to ensure a secure connection, reliable equipment and to define a protocol in the event something needs troubleshooting. If you are looking more for assistance on which gear to get, though, check out our Video Studio Recommendations white paper.

The future of human resources, from hiring to training and on-boarding, is getting a digital overhaul. The credit goes to HR streaming video use cases, improving scale and time efficiency. And for young jobseekers, that’s great news.

More than 50% of employees are applying online using a mobile device, says Andre Lavoie, CEO of ClearCompany, a Boston-based talent management firm. And according to a new survey by HR software firm Yello, 85% of respondents appreciate the use of text messages in the hiring process, and 76% feel positively about video interviews.

“There is no question that this generation’s use of mobile, video and text is pervasive now and will only continue to increase in popularity,” says Dan Bartfield, co-founder and president of Yello.

One trend is clear: The digital tools today’s job seekers are using in their everyday lives are rewriting the rules for HR. In turn, human resources departments are using video to transform their processes. In fact, 79% of organizations plan to use video for HR and corporate communications, equipping themselves to better break down geographic barriers and serve a large, worldwide workforce.

Written by Stacy Nawrocki in Video Trends & Studies on 25 January 2018

Looking for data on live streaming trends?

Video is projected to make up as much as 82% of all Internet traffic by 2020, a growing share of which will be live video content. From high profile live events to internal communications such as sales team trainings and employee town halls, 2017 has made it clear that more and more brands and retailers are taking advantage of the benefits of live streaming. See the Top Live Video Benchmark Report Takeaways.

Looking for ways to build collaboration and engagement among your employees? Live streaming company events like all-hands meetings can be a great tool to bring your team together. But internal streams are only effective if employees can actually watch the video. Too often, a network bottlenecks occur when employees use the same ISP to view a live stream. Because video is bandwidth-intensive and puts a strain on your internal network, streaming video can cause the Internet to crash, slow other applications running on-site — or both.

This article discuses strategies to avoid delivery issues to large, locally confined audiences. It approaches this from the need to keep content secure, for internal audiences only, but to successfully deliver that content as well, sometimes across a variety of different viewing devices. For those looking for a use case example of scaling internal video delivery, check out this How to Scale Your Corporate Video Communications webinar that details how IBM’s CIO office manages their own internal video needs.

With the rapid pace of technological innovation affecting virtually every industry, there are few professionals who need to stay more informed than those within the medical community. New information and procedures have the potential to save lives and end suffering, so it’s easy to see the need for practical and accessible knowledge transfer. Luckily, virtual audiences today can witness a procedure or get trained miles from the nearest medical facility, thanks to innovation within live streaming technology.

Below, we’ve outlined three live streaming benefits for medical education. This includes how live streaming technology has increased accessibility, affordability, and will continue to inform the future of the industry. Furthermore, this can all be done while securing video assets to intended parties.

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